Formal registration of all competitions offering Saddlebred classes by the American Saddlebred Horse Association (ASHA) is now under way. This step comes with the Kentucky State Fair World’s Championship Horse Show having announced that ASHA will administer point-keeping records on its behalf for its 2008 Pleasure and Park Horse sections. Those qualifying requirements can be viewed at www.asha.net/files/ksfwchs_pleasure_park_requirements_08.pdf.

“All exhibitors and competition managements need to pay close attention to this registration process,” said Alan F. Balch, Executive Secretary of the ASHA. “We’ve been encouraging our Charter Clubs and our members the last two years to make sure that horse shows they support and manage are listed in our Competition Search function on the ASHA website, but we’re concerned that our database is still incomplete, especially for competitions that are not licensed by the United States Equestrian Federation. With the Kentucky State Fair now relying on us to be sure that points are kept accurately, including all classes offered for Park and Pleasure, we needed to establish a formal registration method.”

There are no fees to register a competition with ASHA. Registration forms are available online at www.asha.net/members/apps.php, by request of the ASHA office, or in Saddlebred Center at the Kentucky State Fair, Freedom Hall.

Balch emphasized that ASHA registration of competitions is mandatory for points to count for the Kentucky State Fair. “The formal qualifying requirements are very clear that any competition must be registered with ASHA for points to count. Therefore, all exhibitors need to insist at any competition they attend that management comply with this requirement, including timely submission of all results, or points cannot be counted. At the start of this effort, we can be much more flexible than we will be able to be later on.”

The qualifying period for the 2008 World’s Championship Horse Show began on July 1, 2007.